Prayer

 

By Albrecht Dürer -1508 - Public Domain

This is probably one of the most well-known drawings, copied in multiple ways. Yet it holds such beauty for me in the simplicity of a drawing that is appreciated over 500 years after Durer sketched it. It becomes personal for each of us as we see something of ourselves in it. For me, it's the little finger on the left hand, though it is my right that will not lay flat along its length.

The physical description of prayerful people through the Bible is often different from the simple folding hands and speaking to God. Every human religion recognized through mankind's history has utilized an act of communication with their sacred being(s). It is safe to assume that is true pre-history, too. Across the ages, mankind has sought such communication, and the majority have experienced an answer. 

Jesus' example of prayer is easily recognized:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:9-15 KJV)

If that's not quite right for you, perhaps Luke's version is more familiar:

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (Luke 11:2-4 KJV)

However comforting it us to us, we are also given some guidelines, and told not to do it repetitively:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8 KJV)

We also have an advocate when we pray:

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:25-27 KJV)

We can know what we are called to do, and still feel we don't know how to do it, nor do we have the funding to accomplish what needs to be done, but we must always be seeking God's will. We must have the patience to seek God's will, and to accept it when it is revealed. 

Psalm 51 is a prayer. An open to the public prayer of a sinful man who has been made to realized how, when, why, with whom - and whom against:

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (Psalms 51:4-6 KJV)  ...  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. (Psalms 51:10-13 KJV)

Jesus prayed for something He knew God would not grant:

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39 KJV)

John 17 is a prayer, too. Jesus prayed for His disciples, for you if you believe, and for me because I do:

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:14-21 KJV)

Ours may never be written in a book, but it is noticed in heaven:

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5:8 KJV)

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. (Revelation 8:3-4 KJV)

Please join in with a few moments of prayer for those who worship our Lord, that they might be as one, and that the world may believe that God did sent Jesus to have us believe.